This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for winding mastic adhesive or sealant tape onto a reel such that the reel has several layers wound thereon.
The mastic tape is a deformable sealant strip that may include a rigid undulating spacer therein, which spacer is first formed into an undulating shape and then advanced into a crosshead die where the undulating spacer is embedded or encapsulated with a mastic containing an adhesive. The spacer and mastic is extruded as a continuous sealant strip having a quadrilateral cross-sectional shape. To facilitate the winding up of the strip a non-sticking liner is applied to one continuous running length of the sealant strip such that it may be wound into a flat circular plate whose axis during rotation and winding is in a vertical plane. A cover is then placed over it and thence placed into a drum for storage along with successive subsequent and similar flat plates of the sealant. The present invention provides a new and improved method and apparatus for winding and storing mastic tape or sealants which may be any butyl extrudate, a formed sealant strip that is deformable or a deformable sealant strip having a rigid undulating spacer. The strip or sealant is wound onto a reel that has its axis of rotation in a horizontal plane whereby numerous layers of the strip are wound in overlapping relationship onto one roll rather than merely one layer onto a single circular member, thereby reducing the labor cost and increasing the ability to apply the strip material in subsequent operations utilizing long uninterrupted applications.